http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...in-formal-letter-to-arlc-20161125-gsxzmk.html
NRL club bosses demand John Grant's resignation in formal letter to ARLC
Fifteen of the 16 NRL clubs and the NSW Rugby League will move to oust John Grant as chairman of the ARL Commission in the next month after tabling an extraordinary letter demanding his removal from rugby league's top administrative post.
The ARLC received formal notice on Friday afternoon – following days of fallout from a bitter funding dispute – of plans to stage a general meeting to vote on the axing of Grant. The letter was signed by a representative from every NRL club bar the Gold Coast Titans. The Titans are one of two teams, including the Newcastle Knights, which are owned by the NRL.
ARLC chairman John Grant says he still expects to be in his current role in the next five years despite murmurs he's under pressure from high-ranking NRL club officials.
The NSWRL was also a signatory to the letter, but the Queensland Rugby League decided against lending its support to a resolution against Grant.
Given the removal of any of the eight ARLC directors requires a simple majority of 14 of the 26 members – which are made up of the NRL clubs, two state-based associations and eight independent commissioners – it appears Grant's five-year tenure is in its final days.
The 66-year-old said he expected to still be the ARLC chairman in five years' time during a defiant press conference on Friday. But against a torrent of criticism the numbers appear stacked against him as the powerful club bosses upped the ante in demanding his resignation immediately.
The commission received the letters via email more than half-an-hour before Grant staged a snap press conference outside League Central on Friday afternoon, flanked by NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg and commissioner Wayne Pearce.
It is understood Grant's office acknowledged receipt of the letters minutes after they were sent and in advance of the embattled administrator claiming "he hadn't received anything to indicate" there was a bid to dump him as rugby league's most powerful official.
Included in the letter were demands for "the removal of John Grant as a commissioner and chairman of the ARLC" because the "collective disappointment in those charged with leading the administration of our game cannot be overstated".
The NRL chairs also notified the commission of plans to reshape the governance structure of the peak body via constitutional change, including two directors being appointed by the clubs and one by the state leagues. That is at odds with the current model of eight independent directors who now sit on the commission, a system which has been in force since the introduction of the ARLC since 2011.
The introduction of representatives appointed by the clubs is a push to have candidates with rugby league experience and expertise on the commission "without losing its independence".
There is a stipulation an independent commissioner be elected as ARLC chairperson, ruling out one of the club or state-based appointees rising to the top job.
Also under the proposed constitutional change, the state members would give up their veto rights. Both the NSWRL and QRL needed to support 15 of the 16 NRL clubs to enact any amendments to the constitution, but they will forfeit that privilege in return for a representative on the commission.
The bitter divide showed no sign of easing following Friday's dramatic developments in which threats to dump Grant were formalised. The club bosses' anger stems from Grant and Greenberg backflipping on a Memorandum of Understanding formalised late last year that club grants from 2018 onwards would reflect 130 per cent of the salary cap, which is still subject to Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations.
Four club chairmen stormed out of the meeting when told the news and have furiously worked behind the scenes since to take Grant's scalp.
Grant had written to all club chairpersons of his intention to return to the negotiating table next week, but it is believed several have already returned correspondence refusing to do so. Their letter insisted the previous MOU be honoured in a bid to wrap up longstanding club-funding negotiations as soon as possible.
It is almost a year to the day since the NRL trumpeted a record $1.8billion broadcast deal which was supposed to release the pressure valve on cash-strapped clubs, but there is no end to the bunfight in immediate sight.
